Beyond Bretton Woods: A Critical Global Financial Architecture Review

In this course we will discuss the ongoing international financial architecture review (IFAR) process, from the angle of the polycrisis (amongst others, climate change, global health pandemic, social and racial injustice, geo-political tensions and global financial instability) challenges. Students will be offered foundational knowledge about the existing global financial architecture constellation, which emerged from the 1944 Bretton Woods conference in New Hampshire. The course will canvas the core purposes, principles and design intentions to critically analyze and judiciously engage in the core IFAR themes and proposals. The 80-year developments and ensuing challenges will be contextualized with the evolving strands of the current polycrisis. The main course objective is to impart an innovative solutions mindset. The course material will provide a solid introduction to the upcoming May 2024 conference organized on a similar theme at Bread Loaf.